Work Is More Than A Four Letter Word

CFO's aren't seeing much to cheer about in the economy. According to a study by Financial Executives International and Baruch College, 41% say we're already in a recession and 18% have layoffs on the horizon. Whether you're one of the lucky to stay or go - depending on your perspective - there's no time like the present to get clear on your relationship with work.

Take my friend Julia, as an example. Countless are the times she has remarked on being really "done" with her job. An expert in robotics, she consults all over the world for a think tank at one of the country's most respected universities. As recently as a month ago, she offhandedly expressed a desire to stop working, take advantage of the fact that her husband earns plenty, take some down time to be with her young sons. After all, she has all these creative urges to start a home-based business. That was before her think- tank's government contracts hit some snags. Now after 11 years of service, suddenly she is on furlough.

In a classic case of "be careful what you wish for", yesterday when we spoke she had absolutely no recollection of ever having had that conversation OR having felt that sentiment. Quite the contrary. Only a week into feeling her days yawn wide open in front of her, the lack of purpose is already unsettling. When I gushed that she must be really loving the time off to incubate some of her own ideas, her response? "No way. I'm a worker!"

Selling short the inner benefits of work is a national pastime. For the most part, we collectively consider work to be a bit of a four-letter word. The media and it's ongoing work-life or work/life coverage is a tumble of punctuations that separate the words and the elements of life to which they refer. The false concept of balance as the key to happiness holds us transfixed keeping score on our own game, most of us resigned to the probability that work will usually trump life when it comes to making choices or setting priorities. Casting work against life and vice versa, it's easy to overlook the relationship between work and our self. It's even easier to miss out on the power in reconciling that the power to be found in integrating the two.

When Towers Perrin reports that less than 1 in 7 employees calls themselves "truly engaged", we've got a bit of an attitude adjustment needed worldwide. More importantly than what your employer loses out from torpor, YOU lose out even more by sacrificing those precious moments of living to be joyless and valueless other than perhaps satisfying the need for financial survival.

No matter that we're largely complicit in the work-as drudgery assumption, as this is a learned belief it can also be unlearned. And given U.S. Department of Labor figures that estimate we're working 9.1 hours on average per day, you might as well learn to see the good in how you spend more than half your waking moments.

But don't wait for the hangman's axe to shift your perspective. Try these four little practices to shift your experience of your job no matter what it is:

Practice 1 - Work As Identity

In any gathering of adults, chances are the first question exchanged will be along the lines of "what do you do for a living?" As common as the question is, it is equally likely to be ridiculed as work-obsessive or uncreative socializing. Don't fall prey to the ridicule - one good look at the question and how much information can be revealed by answering it more than justifies the default. Beyond superficial attachment to a job title, in answering this question we communicate aspects of ourselves that are a source of identity.

Our answers have the power to convey information about our education, our interests, our skills and our social networks. It's easy to joke that Americans live to work and Europeans work to live. But by understanding that work has always been a source of social identification, you can embrace it as being important to your sense of self. Wherever you go this week, notice how you express aspects of yourself by talking about work. Notice it with strangers, and with those who are dear to you.

Rather than castigating yourself for talking about work, simply allow your work to say something inherently powerful or meaningful about you. This is an important aspect of befriending work as part of your life, rather than counter to it.

Practice 2 - Work As Contribution

Anyone who has ever been unemployed for any amount of time knows the torpor of not having a role to play or way to contribute. Retirees, recent graduates and empty-nesters often express a longing for something to DO. Paid or not, hired or self-assigned, work is the DO. Work is the contribution no matter what you do. By contributing your energy, intelligence and self to your work, work is an outlet for self-expression that is inextricably linked to feeling a sense of purpose, no matter if you've ever thought of it that way.

Life is your field of action and work is just another venue on the field. Take note of when your action is required at any given moment. Note how your work calls upon you to create a solution - no matter how mundane or complex. Recognize that no matter your role, the challenges of your day invite the creation of other possibilities. Carrying this awareness through your day, you acknowledge that by nature of existence as a form of energy you REQUIRE action and doing. Inertia breeds decay. The presence of consciousness and cognitive powers means that no matter where you are or what your role, if you allow it you cannot help but be stimulated with new ideas and possibilities.

Want to feel good about work? Participate with conscious contribution no matter the events unfolding.

Practice 3 - Work As Ritual

If the phrase "daily grind" resonates more than "ritual", it's time to reconsider your relationship with work as an organizing principle in life. What's your flow from the sound of the alarm clock to the last waking moment? Look at the moments that populate your life from start to finish and acknowledge what pleasures you find there. Is it the banter with the Starbucks barista? Is it reading the newspaper before you log on to your computer? What ARE the sacred moments in your day? Beyond chanting, incense, or other esoteric practices, this requires you look at your day as a series of patterned actions that create ritual, no matter how mundane they might seem.

Many of us experience endless small pleasures but barely notice them amid the ongoing frenzy of "getting through the day". Take an inventory of your work-associated pleasures this week. That friendly pre-meeting personal anecdote might actually be a moment of connection. Welcoming a new team member might secretly be a moment of compassion and kindness. By recognizing these moments of connection in the midst of the absurdly mundane, we elevate our work experience from being "what I do to get paid", to being an important aspect of living.

Practice 4 - Work As Community

Like family members, often our colleagues, clients, and superiors don't exactly meet our design specifications. They don't even try. But isn't that the reality of community itself?

The people we encounter in any venue of our lives are just that - people, with all the human error, baggage, talent, hopes and dreams as you yourself. Our interactions with folks who are just as flawed as we are IS the point of the life journey. If the challenge of human interaction is our ultimate teacher, how do the people around you challenge you to the core? Look for the rub and you'll find the need for growth.

The obligation of working through personal and professional conflicts guarantees your continued development - even if you occasionally succumb to the desire for a stiff martini. After all, if you're going to grow, you've got to expect some growing pains.


Work of Art

Let's face it: lay-offs looming or not, it makes sense to befriend the one aspect of life that continues to populate ever increasing numbers of waking moments. By using practices of active observation with respect to your work, you step out of oppositional thinking and experience it as yet another venue for self to unfold. Far from victim-hood, when we understand work as something we participate in, we hold the ability to influence the quality of our work experience.

And why not try it? After all, you've got an entire portion of your life to reclaim for your own enjoyment and appreciation. If it doesn't work, no big loss. Like Gallup's study shows, chances are you didn't like your job anyway.

Comments

[Tevis Gale - Huffpost Blogger]

Good point about people who retire - the "what now...?" often experienced by those who retire reinforces the suggestion that we have to recognize that work is less about the paycheck or title but more about our contribution and functioning in society.

As for Europe's model, most of the numbers I see reported suggest that they are increasingly adapting to our work habits, although I think most of us would agree that their more benevolent attitude towards vacation, eldercare, childbirth, and other life realities is certainly something US work culture could benefit from imitating.

The higher level of global dissonance with work as measured by Towers Perrin suggests that seeing work as only a means to live also separates us from EXISTING meaningfully through work - not exactly the attitude of a master.

[NewYawker]

You make some excellent points about how our identity is so tied to our jobs.

I think that the American model of working is outdated and could benefit from our European neighbors as well as your valuable insights!

I am reminded of those retire at 65 and don't know what to do with themselves.

[beandlive]

nice, simple model, thanks! I wonder what corporations would look like ( and could accomplish) with this kind of engagement from their employees? exciting! LRH